Blue Jackets 6, Oilers 3

Three times, the Edmonton Oilers scored a goal, a goal which might have been a starting point of a rally against the Columbus Blue Jackets. Three times the Jackets responded with a marker of their own within a minute of that Edmonton tally.

Taylor Hall had a strong game and meshed nicely with Connor McDavid once head coach Todd McLellan started mixing and matching lines, but for the most part the Oilers just weren’t in this one. Their defensive game was erratic, they couldn’t get a save in pivotal moments and they started out slowly and let their opponents build up an early lead.

#10 Nail Yakupov, 4. Yakupov had one good shot late in the first period but otherwise wasn’t much of a threat to score in this one. He also took the penalty that Boone Jenner capitalized on midway through the second period.

#97 Connor McDavid, 6. McDavid made multiple mistakes on the Blue Jackets’ first goal, losing the initial battle in the neutral zone that cost the Oilers possession and then losing track of the eventual goal-scorer. He made up for that in the second period, first drawing a penalty and then picking up an assist on Hall’s power play goal which followed shortly afterward. He scored himself in the third period, wasting no time putting a bouncing puck on a vulnerable Joonas Korpisalo.

#14 Jordan Eberle, 4. Eberle was barely noticeable through two periods. He had two great chances in front of the net in the third but put both wide, with the latter hitting Yakupov in a sensitive area. He had one good power play chance with five minutes to go, but that was too little, too late.

Second Line

#4 Taylor Hall, 8. Hall earned the “third” assist on Draisaitl’s opening goal, winning a key battle in the lead-up to it. He did better on the Oilers’ second marker, redirecting a point shot into the net while on the power play. He fired a team-high seven shots and gelled instantly with McDavid when the lines were shaken up. Edmonton had a 12-3 edge in shots when he was on the ice at evens, including a breakaway attempt by Hall which was turned aside.

#29 Leon Draisaitl, 7. Draisaitl got Edmonton on the board in the second period, redirecting an Adam Pardy point shot into the net. He figured in on Edmonton’s next goal, too, not getting a point but making the zone entry on the power play. Hall’s partner in crime for most of the night made pinpoint passes throughout the evening, won two-thirds of his faceoffs and fired four shots himself. He was also credited with three steals.

#19 Patrick Maroon, 6. Maroon continued his scoring ways in his second game with the Oilers, picking up assists on both Draisaitl’s second period marker and McDavid’s tally in the third period. He was whistled for cross-checking in the third but it’s hard to hold such a weak call against him; he also fought in the final minute of the game.

Third Line

#28 Lauri Korpikoski, 2. Edmonton’s defensive zone coverage on the Blue Jackets’ second goal was atrocious, as they never really got into position coming out of transition. Korpikoski was particularly to blame, as he was derelict in his responsibility to cover the eventual scorer at the point. He did virtually the same thing against the same player on the Jacket’s sixth goal, following Letestu and Kassian to the wrong side of the ice and leaving David Savard almost unlimited room to advance and shoot.

#55 Mark Letestu, 4. Letestu finished the night minus-three, though to my eye he didn’t particularly deserve much blame as his linemates rather let down the side. He also had two shots and won seven of 12 faceoffs.

#44 Zack Kassian, 3. The second Columbus goal started in the offensive zone off a scrambled draw, a faceoff loss which falls on Kassian’s shoulders as he was beat to the puck in the circle. He had a chance to get that back with a goal later in the opening frame but a quick whistle robbed him of a marker. The Jacket’s final goal of the night started life as a Kassian turnover in the neutral zone. He had three shots and some good moments around the opposition net but this was not a strong outing for him,

Fourth Line

#23 Matt Hendricks, 5. Hendricks fired two shots, landed two hits, and started a fight in the third period which seemed aimed at rousing a slumbering team (though it failed to do so). The penalty kill mainstay also won both faceoffs he took and blocked a pair of shots.

#51 Anton Lander, 5. Lander won 10 of 14faceoffs, played 2:29 on the penalty kill and had some decent moments as a playmaker. He had a decent night from a purely defensive perspective.

#26 Iiro Pakarinen, 5. Pakarinen had a couple of dangerous shots in the third period, thanks in part to getting caught out on the ice with Draisaitl. He took a hit from behind into the boards in the third period which shook him up.

First Pairing

#2 Andrej Sekera, 7. Sekera’s point shot gave Edmonton its second goal; he got it through traffic and to the net, where Hall redirected it past the goaltender. He was also instrumental in the club’s third marker, earning a second assist for a quick pass which sent the Oilers into the Blue Jackets zone. He finished the night with four shots.

#5 Mark Fayne, 6. Fayne’s best moment was probably in the third period when he played a two-on-one beautifully, preventing the opposition from even firing a shot at the net. He played 18:02, including 1:51 on the penalty kill, yet was the only defenceman on the team not caught on the ice for at least one goal against in some situation.

Second Pairing

#6 Adam Pardy, 3. Pardy didn’t make a big mistake but he did get beat through the neutral zone on the Blue Jackets’ initial entry on their 2-0 goal. He got that back early in the second, though, when his point shot was redirected by Draisaitl past Joonas Korpisalo; that gives him two points in his last two games. Unfortunately the rest of the second period wasn’t as kind to him. He failed to tie up his man on the Jackets’ 4-1 power play goal and then made the critical turnover in the dying seconds of the frame which led to the fifth goal for Columbus. Edmonton is not well-served by a high-event game from this player.

#88 Brandon Davidson, 6. Davidson didn’t get into trouble until the Blue Jackets’ fifth marker, and even then he was left facing a two-on-one by his partner; his fault lay in failing to secure the lane across the ice. Again he played a lot, almost 25 minutes in all, and again he consistently delivered quality minutes.

Third Pairing

#25 Darnell Nurse, 2. Nurse played a supporting role in the Jackets’ 1-0 goal, failing to hold the defensive blue line. He advanced (declined?) to a feature role on the Jackets’ third goal, making a bad turnover at the defensive blue line that found its way to the back of the net. The shots were 7-4 in favour of Columbus when he was on the ice; no Edmonton defenceman spent more time pinned in his own end.

#86 Nikita Nikitin, 4. Nikitin had some decent moments, and really seemed to be trying to contribute a physical element to the game. The official scorer in Columbus dinged him for both giveaway which were charged against the Oilers, a fact which neatly captures both the erratic nature of his passing game on the evening and the utter futility of relying too heavily on the league’s chance counts.

Goaltender

#1 Laurent Brossoit, 2. Brossoit wasn’t given much chance to get the win, but then he didn’t do a lot to even matters up for the Oilers, either. There were several times the club could really have used a stop it just didn’t get. He turned aside 21 of the 27 shots he faced (0.778 save percentage).

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